labs, food and drug safety, discriminatory practices in the health insurance industry, and the recent toyota sudden unintended acceleration problems. but two years ago, i saw of the opportunity to finally enact health care with the election of a new president. i thank president barack obama and speaker pelosi for finally making health care and reality in this country. while legislative accomplishments have been a significant part of my career, perhaps the thing i am most proud of over 18 years is helping you, my friend, my neighbors, and my constituents. my staff and i have helped tens of thousands of constituents resolve problems and cut through the red tape, problems such as helping secure benefits through the band -- through the veterans or social security administration, or helping with a tax problem at the irs, or securing the middle of a service member who badly served our country. we help people obtain passports, secure local mail delivery service, and obtained funds to weatherize their homes to save money. these may seem like little things, but to me and my staff, there are some of t